Zora Health / Employer guide / Portugal
Support your experienced employees through menopause, and help them stay at their best.
In a Portuguese study, 65% of women going through menopause reported discrimination at work, and more than one in five had considered changing or leaving their job. Zora Health helps you build practical menopause support, from workplace policies and manager training to confidential care navigation and access to 128+ partner clinics in 16 countries, around your workforce and budget. Companies including Hilton, LinkedIn, Sanofi, HSBC, Mastercard, Carousell and Singapore Management University work with us.
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Five things Portuguese HR leaders should know
- Menopause in Portugal occurs at about 50.
- In the Médis menopause study, 65% of women at this stage reported discrimination at work and 22% had considered changing or leaving their job.
- 72% of women aged 45 to 60 in the study said they lived in permanent tension.
- 65.9% of women aged 55 to 64 were in work in 2025, above the EU average of 60.8%.
- Sickness benefit is paid by Segurança Social from day 4, at 55% for the first 30 days. There is no menopause leave.
Why menopause is a business problem for employers
Menopause rarely announces itself at work. It looks like a senior manager who slept four hours, a wave of heat in the middle of a client meeting, a word that will not come in front of the board. Symptoms come and go for years. Many women do not link them to menopause, and fewer tell their manager.
So the cost stays out of your reports. It shows up instead as:
- Discrimination at work. In the Médis study of 707 women, 65% of women at the menopause stage reported discrimination at work (Observador and Lusa, April 2024).
- Women considering leaving. In the same study, 22% had considered changing or leaving their job.
- Constant strain. 72% of women aged 45 to 60 said they lived in permanent tension.
- Not told at work. A study cited in the Médis report found 50% of women in menopause were not comfortable telling colleagues or managers, and 42% wanted hybrid or flexible work (Médis, Projeto Saúdes).
What employers gain
Keep the people who know how your business runs
Replacing an employee costs one-half to two times their annual salary, according to Gallup. With 65.9% of women aged 55 to 64 in work in 2025 (Eurostat), many of your most experienced employees will go through menopause at work. A written policy, trained managers and quick access to the right doctor can help address barriers that contribute to employee attrition.
Stand out to experienced women
With 42% of women in menopause asking for hybrid or flexible work, a clear offer, explained in your benefits pack, stands out to senior women weighing their next move.
Make menopause support financially predictable
Aon projects Portugal’s medical trend at 10.0% for 2026, or 7.9% after inflation (Aon, 2026 report). Much of what helps menopause costs very little: a flexible start time, a fan, a manager who knows what to say.
Zora helps employers set an annual allowance or top-up around the SNS and your health insurance, so HR can run the programme within an agreed budget. The benefit works alongside your existing insurance.
Want to see what this would look like for your Portuguese workforce?
What menopause care costs, and what the state pays
The National Health Service (SNS) no longer charges user fees, except for emergency visits without referral. Many employers add private health insurance for faster access.
| Item | Public support | What the employee still carries |
|---|---|---|
| SNS consultations | No user fees since May 2022, except for emergency visits without referral | Waiting times, or private fees for faster care |
| Hormone therapy | Not fully reimbursed; a 2024 proposal called for full state reimbursement of menopause treatments | The unreimbursed share |
| Time off for appointments | Segurança Social sickness benefit from day 4: 55% up to 30 days, then 60%, 70% and 75% | The first 3 days and the gap to full pay |
From Observador, August 2025, Observador, September 2024 and Caixa Geral de Depósitos. We could not confirm HRT reimbursement rates or private consultation fees. These are published examples, not guaranteed current prices: actual costs depend on cover, clinic, doctor and treatment, so confirm fees with the provider before budgeting.
65% of Portuguese women at the menopause stage reported discrimination at work.
We have found no menopause workplace law or guidance in Portugal. For employers, the practical opportunity is to help employees recognise their symptoms, understand their options and reach appropriate clinical advice sooner.
Menopause support that fits your workforce and budget
You do not need to overhaul your existing health insurance to support employees through menopause. Start with awareness and manager education, add confidential one-to-one support, or introduce a fuller programme across your offices. There is no minimum company size.
Where included in the employer programme, eligible employees can use talks and care navigation without paying Zora a separate fee. Care navigation allowances are set in each proposal. Treatment and other third-party costs are paid separately, either by employees or through the allowance their employer provides.
Companies starting the conversation
Essentials
Expert-led talks for employees and managers, menopause policy templates, manager guides and full access to the Zora app. Up to 2 talks a year.
Employees supported one to one
Navigation
Everything in Essentials, plus confidential one-to-one care navigation and access to our partner clinic network.
Large teams across countries
Complete
Everything in Navigation, plus quarterly anonymised reporting, a dedicated account manager and scheduled review meetings with HR.
Optional add-ons can be added to any programme, subject to availability: hormone diagnostics and telehealth with specialists. Pricing is tailored to your headcount, your countries and the services you choose. Most companies start with a single talk.
Request a proposal See how Zora works for employers
Comparing menopause benefit providers? Use our RFP question bank
Our question bank has 40 questions for multi-country benefits teams, with why each one matters, what a good answer looks like and a scoring sheet for three providers. Six of the questions for menopause support in Portugal:
- Is menopause support included as standard, or only fertility?
- What access do employees get to menopause specialists and hormone testing, and how quickly?
- How does the programme help us prevent menopause-related discrimination and support flexible work requests?
- Do you provide fertility and menopause policy templates for our markets?
- How can an employee get help confidentially without telling their manager?
- What individual-level data does HR see?
Your download link appears as soon as you submit. Zora Health may contact you about employee benefits; see our privacy policy.
Plan your menopause benefit budget
Menopause care allowance planner
Model the annual claims budget for a menopause care allowance. Change any number.
This is a claims budget, not a Zora quotation. Zora’s programme fees, implementation and optional services are separate.
It estimates the annual budget for a menopause care allowance from your eligible workforce, expected utilisation and allowance per employee, and assumes each user claims the full allowance. Eligible employees defaults to 15% as a stand-in for women aged 45 and over; use your own headcount data. The default allowance of €300 is an illustrative figure for private consultations, tests and treatment. Utilisation is an editable assumption, not observed Zora data. For a proposal covering both programme costs and employee benefits, request an employer proposal.
Estimate the potential workforce impact of menopause symptoms
A rough planning scenario. It applies a published estimate to your headcount, so it is not a prediction for your workforce, a measured loss or a forecast of savings from any programme.
Range: €11,338 to €34,322 a year, depending on replacement cost.
Assumptions: 13.4% of working women aged 45 to 60 reported at least one adverse work outcome due to menopause symptoms, and those who missed work lost a median of 3 days a year (Faubion et al., Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2023). This was a US clinic sample, so treat it as a rough benchmark for Portugal. The default salary is the 2025 average gross monthly pay of €1,694 multiplied by 12. Use your own. Replacing an employee costs one-half to two times their annual salary (Gallup, 2019); the headline uses the low end. Absence is valued at salary divided by 250 working days. Exit rate is your own assumption.
Already have corporate health insurance? Here is where Zora fits
Your medical plan may cover some consultations and treatment. Employees still need to recognise their symptoms, understand their options and find a doctor who knows menopause care, and many never get that far.
Zora works alongside your existing insurance and benefits. We help employees get reliable information, navigate their care options and reach suitable specialists, and we give HR manager training, policy templates and, on the Complete programme, anonymised reporting. You strengthen menopause support without replacing your medical plan.
How Zora works
For your employees
Employees join the Zora app with a company code, or single sign-on for larger teams. They can learn about perimenopause and menopause, understand what your benefit covers, book a confidential care navigation call and find partner doctors and specialists.
For HR
- Kick-off, week 1. Agree goals, countries and which employees are eligible.
- Policy and benefit design, weeks 2 to 4. Draft or update your menopause policy and flexible work guidance using our templates.
- Launch, typically weeks 4 to 6. A launch talk for employees and managers, plus a communications pack for HR to send.
- Live support. Employees book care navigation calls and use the Zora app.
- Reporting, every 3 months, on the Complete programme. Anonymised usage, common themes and our recommendations, reviewed with your account manager.
Privacy
On the Complete programme, HR receives anonymised, aggregated reports only: how many employees used the programme, which services they used and the common themes. On every programme, HR never sees an individual employee’s health information, bookings or test results, and employees can get help without telling their manager. Employee data is stored on Amazon Web Services in Singapore and handled in line with Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act.
Clinics and doctors in Portugal
Zora’s clinic and doctor directory does not list providers in Portugal yet. It lists 421 clinics and 1,185 doctors across 25 countries, mostly in Asia Pacific and the Middle East (browse clinics or browse doctors). Employees in Portugal can still use Zora’s education and the Zora app. Ask us how your team in Portugal would use Zora before you launch. See Zora’s employer guides for every country.
Rules and eligibility in Portugal
Sickness benefit
Segurança Social pays sickness benefit from day 4: 55% of reference pay up to 30 days, 60% for days 31 to 90, 70% for days 91 to 365 and 75% after that (Caixa Geral de Depósitos).
Reimbursing menopause treatment
The Bloco de Esquerda proposed full state reimbursement of menopause treatments, including hormone therapy, when prescribed by an SNS doctor, plus menopause consultations (Observador).
No menopause workplace rules
We have found no menopause-specific workplace law or guidance in Portugal. A written company policy is the clearest way to set expectations for managers.
EU strategy and a new standard
The EU Gender Equality Strategy 2026 to 2030 includes menopause, with a study planned for 2028, and European trade unions launched a campaign for EU menopause-at-work legislation in October 2026 (Euronews). ISO 45010, published in September 2026, gives guidance on menstruation and menopause in the workplace, including risk assessment and individual adjustments (ecnews.it).
Why employers choose Zora
Companies including Hilton, LinkedIn, Sanofi, HSBC, Mastercard, Carousell and Singapore Management University work with Zora Health. We work alongside your existing insurance, helping employees use the cover they already have and find suitable doctors and specialists based on their needs.
Zora Health helped me to reclaim my confidence to thrive at work!
Questions HR teams ask us
Do Portuguese employers have to give menopause leave?
No. There is no menopause leave. Employees use sick leave, holiday or flexible arrangements unless their employer offers more.
How does sickness benefit work in Portugal?
Segurança Social pays from day 4, at 55% for the first 30 days, rising to 60%, 70% and 75% for longer absences.
How does menopause affect work in Portugal?
In the Médis study, 65% of women at this stage reported discrimination at work and 22% had considered changing or leaving their job.
Does the SNS charge for menopause consultations?
SNS user fees were abolished in May 2022, except for emergency visits without referral.
At what age do Portuguese women reach menopause?
At about 50.
Does Zora replace our health insurance?
No. Zora works alongside your insurance. We help employees understand their options, find suitable specialists and use the cover they already have.
How much does menopause support cost an employer?
It depends on the programme, any allowance and expected uptake. Use the budget planner on this page for a first estimate, then ask us for a tailored proposal based on your headcount and countries.
How quickly can we launch?
Typically 4 to 6 weeks from contract to launch, depending on scope and countries. Most companies start with a single talk.
Related guides for Portuguese employers
Build a menopause support programme for your team
Whether you are introducing menopause benefits for the first time or improving an existing programme, tell us your headcount, countries and priorities. We will come back within two working days with suitable services, an indicative budget and a practical rollout plan for your Portuguese team. No obligation.
Sources
- Médis, Projeto Saúdes: Dar ouvidos e voz à menopausa
- Observador and Lusa, Médis menopause study, April 2024
- Eurostat, Employment rates by sex and age, 2025
- Portuguese Government, INE average pay 2025, February 2026
- Observador, SNS user fees, August 2025
- Observador, Proposal to reimburse menopause treatments, September 2024
- Caixa Geral de Depósitos, Sickness benefit questions, February 2024
- Aon, Global Medical Trend Rates Report 2026
- Euronews, Trade unions call for EU law on menopause at work, 17 October 2026
- ecnews.it, ISO 45010 on menstruation and menopause in the workplace, September 2026
- Gallup, This fixable problem costs US businesses $1 trillion, 2019
- Mayo Clinic News Network, Faubion et al., Impact of menopause symptoms on women in the workplace, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, April 2023